In agricultural regions, product queens are crowned who give a face to a product or industry of their region. In an interview with "Die Glocke", Professor Krafft explains which marketing concepts are used to increase the value of the products represented.

Product queens can be described as a composition of testimonial marketing and influencer role. On the one hand, they increase the credibility of the products as well-known regional personalities. On the other hand, they embody down-to-earthness as well as the everyday and thus create a closeness to the represented region, the product and the customer. By crowning the product queens, they are additionally bestowed with the characteristics of a royal title. The archetype of the ruler figure exudes competence and security, which are transferred to the product and thus also to the customer. Both physical attractiveness and the perceived congruence between product queen and product play an important role. Therefore, young princesses who combine both in a natural way dominate over the product princes among the product royals.

Well-known product queens are the US Dairy Princess, who represented the dairy industry for the first time in the 20th century, today's Federal Minister Julia Klöckner (CDU), who was German Wine Queen in 1995, as well as Jenny Elvers, who greeted as Heath Queen 30 years ago. Using the example of the figure "Frau Antje" as a well-known advertising figure of a Dutch dairy since 1961, Professor Krafft shows the potential marketing power of product queens.

Source: Die Glocke, Saturday, February 27, 2021.

This article has been written with the help of Meike Kietzmann, Student Assistant at the Chair of Marketing Management.